I'm talking to an online friend that had a blue VT called 'No Name'. She told me he had died a while ealier today. She had him for 2 months. She didn't really know how to take care of him properly, kept him in one of those little .5 betta tanks. I had been giving her tips.

Well, now she tells me she bought 3 new fish as well as a new tank (because I had been urging her to get a bigger home for her guy).
After a bit of probing, it turns out it's like this:

She bought a 2.5 gallon with an algae eater, a barb, and a koi!

It was so ridiculous...she said they all passed away quickly after she put them in. Poor things. I told her about all the mistakes she had made with that. She told me the lady at the petstore had told her it was perfectly fine. Get this: the employee said not to feed tropical fish betta food. Not because of their difference in nutrition, but because tropical fish don't like to eat round pellets!

If I ever go to Cali I'm definitely giving this employee a good tongue lashing. I feel bad for all the fish she must have sold with this horrid advice.

I told my friend to come to me whenever she needed advice on fish instead...

It's my honest belief that you are as likely to get sound fishkeeping advice from a clerk at a LFS as you are from a random person off the street. Sure, thee are a small handful of people in each crowd who actually kow what they'redoing, but it's hit and miss.

I just can't stand pet stores anymore >:( It's not even fun to look at decorations anymore because I know that there are dying bettas right around the corner. I think that we should all start buying from breeders....

I just can't stand pet stores anymore >:( It's not even fun to look at decorations anymore because I know that there are dying bettas right around the corner. I think that we should all start buying from breeders....

I'm with you. The only problem is that they dying bettas need a shot at life. That's why these pet stores will always have bettas to sell. People like us can't stand leaving them there to rot in the cups.